A fan of the game 'Fallout' just shipped 2,240 bottlecaps to the makers and was granted an awesome wish

Paying for products with bottle caps, even in the world of video games, is far from normal. Having a game company accept those bottle caps - all 2,240 of them - in exchange for its upcoming game is even stranger.

Yet that's exactly what one intrepid fan did for a copy of this November's biggest release, "Fallout 4."

That's right, somebody sent a ton of bottlecaps to Bethesda Softworks just to get free copy of the game, and it worked.

In the post-apocalyptic world of "Fallout 4," the main form of currency isn't the cash we're all so used to using. And given that you're in the post-apocalypse, there's no plastic to swipe or Apple Pay to tap. The only remaining currency with a hard limit and the convenience of traditional money is good ol' bottle caps (supplied in the game by Coca-Cola stand-in "Nuka Cola").

Let's be clear: 2,240 bottle caps is a tremendous amount of metal. Even if each came from a bottle that cost $0.50, that's still over $1,000 to aquire the bottle caps. Even if you bought them from a bottle cap maker that sells in bulk, it'd still cost upwards of $100.

Considering that "Fallout 4" will cost $60 when it launches later this year, this is more "hilarious stunt" than "smart financial decision."

That said, it's always possible that the game's publisher, Bethesda Softworks, will send over a fancy collector's edition (valued at $150), which comes with this insane collectible:

Bethesda Softworks

And that'd be especially valuable, as the collector's edition is running out of stock everywhere.

Either way, Bethesda's setting an awfully dangerous precedent here: send in value-less junk, and receive actual video game in exchange. We're betting a lot of offices are going to "smell like beer" before November arrives.